pilgrim in progress http://blog.therivendellcenter.org jason kovacs | life, faith, adoption, church, culture, and other randomness Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:58:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en Love http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/12/02/love/ http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/12/02/love/#comments Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:58:13 +0000 Jason http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/12/02/love/

“Love can free us from all excess.”

— the Submarines, “You, Me, and the Bourguoise”

]]> http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/12/02/love/feed/ Blast From the Past http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/blast-from-the-past/ http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/blast-from-the-past/#comments Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:46:38 +0000 Jason http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/blast-from-the-past/ Shawnda and I are thinking through what to get the kids for Christmas and I started to think about my favorite toys as a child. One of the first things I thought of was Playmobil. Remember those? Hours and hours of fun!

One of my clearest memories was getting a free Playmobil figure with a McDonald’s Happy Meal - I found the commercial on YouTube and almost brought tears to my eyes -

If anyone is wanting to get rid of some Playmobil sets I would be glad to take them off your hands…for the kids of course!

]]> http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/blast-from-the-past/feed/ To Buy a Starbucks or Not to on World AIDS Day http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/to-buy-a-starbucks-or-not-to-on-world-aids-day/ http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/to-buy-a-starbucks-or-not-to-on-world-aids-day/#comments Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:16:49 +0000 Jason http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/to-buy-a-starbucks-or-not-to-on-world-aids-day/ picture-5I saw this the other day on the sidebar of my Facebook page and something struck me a little off. I love Starbucks and I love it when corporations get behind these major causes but I can’t help but think how much of a greater impact could be made if the 248,042 folks who have already said they will buy a “hand-crafted beverage” at Starbucks on Monday donated the full-price of that beverage to help save lives in Africa.

I did some basic math and if 300,000 folks buy a drink on Monday, the Global Fund gets $15,000…Starbucks gets significantly more! Now if Starbucks were to encourage folks to give up their daily “hand-crafted drink” this Monday for World AIDS Day and donate the money to an organization working in Africa, the total would be close to a $1 million dollars!

Hmmmm…what do you think?

]]> http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/to-buy-a-starbucks-or-not-to-on-world-aids-day/feed/ Why a multi-ethnic church? http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/why-a-multi-ethnic-church/ http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/why-a-multi-ethnic-church/#comments Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:13:16 +0000 Jason http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/why-a-multi-ethnic-church/ From an interview with Mark DeYmaz in Leadership Journal on ‘Establishing a Multi-Ethic Ministry”:

If your church is not diverse in the next 15-20 years in America, it’s
going to be largely irrelevant. In an increasingly diverse and cynical
society, people are no longer going to buy into the message that God
loves all people when it’s preached from segregated pulpits and pews.

Wow!

]]> http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/11/29/why-a-multi-ethnic-church/feed/ FRIDAY PHOTO http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/12/friday-photo-14/ http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/12/friday-photo-14/#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:29:43 +0000 Jason http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/12/friday-photo-14/ zoo

]]> http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/12/friday-photo-14/feed/ Clean Water http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/04/clean-water/ http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/04/clean-water/#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:24:01 +0000 Jason http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/04/clean-water/ This is a powerful video.
1.1 billion people on the planet don’t have clean water!
Most of us have never been without clean water.
You can learn more here.

]]> http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/04/clean-water/feed/ Blogging http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/04/blogging/ http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/04/blogging/#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:23:24 +0000 Jason http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/04/blogging/ Most of my blogging of late has been over here at the ABBA Fund blog.

]]> http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/09/04/blogging/feed/ Celebrating 3 Years http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/07/21/celebrating-3-years/ http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/07/21/celebrating-3-years/#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:32:57 +0000 Jason http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/07/21/celebrating-adoption/
We had a great weekend celebrating the third anniversary of S and K’s adoption. It’ hard to imagine it has only been that long. We spent some time looking through photos of our first weeks together and giving God glory for His goodness to us. It is amazing to see how much they have grown!

We talked throughout the day about what we were celebrating but understandably so they don’t understand it. They do know adoption is something special and that is good enough for me right now. In fact, we hope and pray that will always be the case.

I pray more than anything that they will experience heavenly adoption through Christ, and that their earthly adoption will serve to point them that way.

This weekends celebration was yet another reminder of the glory of God’s love for sinners; not merely justifying me as a judge but adopting me as His very son. Incredible!

]]> http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/07/21/celebrating-3-years/feed/ Free Registration for the Fall 2008 course on Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/07/17/free-registration-for-the-fall-2008-course-on-spiritual-depression-its-causes-and-cure/ http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/07/17/free-registration-for-the-fall-2008-course-on-spiritual-depression-its-causes-and-cure/#comments Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:01:26 +0000 Jason http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/07/17/free-registration-for-the-fall-2008-course-on-spiritual-depression-its-causes-and-cure/ I’m thinking about registering for this. I have been meaning to read Lloyd-Jones book for a long time…maybe this will give me some accountability for it.

Anyone else want to join me?

]]> http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/07/17/free-registration-for-the-fall-2008-course-on-spiritual-depression-its-causes-and-cure/feed/ The Church’s Essence http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/07/17/the-churchs-essence/ http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/07/17/the-churchs-essence/#comments Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:56:33 +0000 Jason http://blog.therivendellcenter.org/2008/07/17/the-churchs-essence/

“Mission” is not something the church does, a part of its total program. No, the church’s essence is missional, for the calling and sending action of God forms its identity. Mission is founded on the mission of God in the world, rather then the churches effort to extend itself.” p. 82 , Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America

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